The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment plans to address the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood (aka, Operation Hire More Women) with the launch of a new grant initiative.

Deadline reports that $5 million dollars has been earmarked for film and theater projects that are “for and about women”:

“Women are not a niche market,” said MOME Commissioner Julie Menin. “It’s incredibly discouraging that while women comprise 52% of the city’s population, less than 10% of the top grossing films are directed by women. I hope that our efforts pave the way for others to follow suit, and look forward to seeing these initiatives make a substantive impact on filmed entertainment in New York City.”

The initiative also includes opportunities through a new screenwriting contest for NYC-based women that could lead to a series on NYC’s Channel 25, which is also committing a block of programming to women and their “perspectives.” They’re offering pitch workshops to women filmmakers and a conference for networking, connecting these filmmakers to people who can actually finance their work. The Office also plans to release reports on gender inequity for film directors.